Somebody tell Gauthier to hurry up and trade for Filatov. Columbus is in win-now mode. I’d even reluctantly trade Markov for him. Columbus gets their puck-moving D-man, Habs get young sniper with a low cap hit. Subban fills Markov shoes as OFD and either Weber or Carle make the team this year and help run the PP. Worst case scenario is the season’s a disaster and the Habs draft Sean Couturier, the elusive French Canadian superstar to annoint their lord and saviour.

Clearly he fits in with a lot of the other Russian players in that he wants the big contract with a team that doesn’t make the playoffs, or make a good run in the playoffs, because you only get paid for regular season (bonuses aside) and he DOESN’T CARE about winning a Cup. He can go to the KHL with all other Ruski’s for all I care.

AT the time, he was the young star of the Columbian WC team that scored in his own net. Like you said, he went out to party one night soon after, got into a fight after some guys were bothering him about it, and bang.

Who said the Devils were a winning team? Trap hockey nonstop doesn’t always guaruntee a win. You could literally see the frustration mount in Kovalchuk, he was trying to do everything himself in the last few games.

Think Kovy + Ovechkin or Kovy + Crosby. The habs were a Kovalchuk away from a Stanely Cup. He needs to choose a team with goals and decent scorers.

I still don’t understand why Kovalchuk wouldn’t take a 1-2 year 5-6 mil contract and get himself a cup or two. Imagine if he joined the caps or pens (before large blueline signings)?

Instead he demands money that only a bottom dweller with no stars can afford. I’m sorry but this tells me he’s greedy, not looking for a cup. If he’s as good as he thinks he is a short term contract on a winning team would only INCREASE his value.

Wow, BG was so dumb not to sign SS an often injured d-man to a $5,500,000.00 5 year contract , while the oilers were so smart. Guess Bob was right. just think, what that cap hit would have done right now. For $500,000 i’d sign him to a 1 year deal for the PP, if the mighty MAB does not return. Also PK will be around a long time however Weber, I don’t believe is ready for prime time and may never be.

I just checked quickly on the net, including ESPN.COM, for a complete box-set of all the ESPN Films made.

I couldn’t find one though, they just sell them individually for 15$. I know I can DL them off the net straight onto my hard-drive, but do you know if they came out with collector box-sets or something?

Aw come on, we didn’t overpay — sure Pleks makes more money than guys like Prospal, Cullen and Jokinen, but that’s because he has way more to offer. Would you trade him for any of them?

Pleks got 70 points last year, defended leads and killed every penalty. Aside from Marleau, who’s earning $2M more than him, none of those guys did that. None of them even scored 60 points, and several didn’t even manage 50. If a 3rd-line 29-point banger like Armstrong gets $3M, you don’t think Plekanec is worth $5M?

Aside from Marleau (who’s making a mint), I’d take Plekanec over any of those guys for Pleks’s $5M. His production and tendency to stay healthy make him a really valuable commodity, and I find we tend to undervalue our own players while overvaluing guys on other teams — sort of a “grass is always greener” complex. Pleks is worth every penny, and I’m thrilled to have him at that price.

I’m at Dorval Airport yesterday (yup, I still call it that), going back to Vancouver and I wanted to pick up a Gio T-Shirt at that Habs store. Well, they didn’t have any. What they did have was three racks of Pouliot shirts. Wow.

Enough talk about the greater Kovy, how we can trade Hamrlik even though nobody wants him, how we can trade for Gagne (who’s made of glass), blah blah blah…..

I’m here to tell you guys how to spend about 2 hours of your life watching one of the best sport/political films I have ever seen. Friday night I was buzzing on half a bottle of Gentlemen’s Jack, when I tuned in to TSN at midnight. What I found was another one of the usually great “ESPN Films”, this one however about Pablo Escobar and his influence on Columbian soccer. Now just to let you all know, soccer doesn’t really fizz me. I prefer many sports over it, and I’ll only watch the World Cup because I feel it is somewhat of a human obligation; the same way we find ourselves sometimes watching water-polo or cross-country skiing in the Olympics.

But for those 2 hours on Friday night/Saturday morning, I found myself litterally glued to the flat-screen. First of all, ESPN is the mecca of television sports coverage. They find the best and most entertaining ways to make every story a great story. And trust me when I say this, they nailed this one. Escobar is known for his involvement in the drug trade, but his passion for the sport of soccer was insane.

I don’t know how else to explain it, but trust me when I say you have to watch this film. I’m sure you can find it on Youtube. Just find it and watch it, lol…

ps- I saw the Reggie Miller “ESPN Films” documentary a few months ago and it was also good.

Speaking as a student of history, an advocate of liberty and democracy, and a supporter of Israel, I am deeply offended by your original comment. Your follow-ups were offensive on a personal level. Your insincere, backhanded apology is contemptible – you can keep it.

We may have overpaid for him but we needed to. He has great chemistry with cammy and ak46 and he is a tremendous 2 way forward. plus a fan favorite, it was something that PG needed to do. he is also much, much, better than any of those players except marleau. people love olli jokinen for some reason, fact of the matter is that he sucks and has only succeeded when he was the top dog in the dressing room on the ice (florida). everywhere else, phoenix (doan). calgary (iggy), and NYR (lundy/gaborik) he has been awful.

I agree, Hammer should be moved. He’s getting a salary that reflects an offensive ability that we haven’t seen from him in years. Like Gomer his salary is grossly inflated from his point production, and you can’t afford to be sentimental when running a team in a salary cap reality.